Don’t let political and corporate greed kill the USEPA!

Happy 41st birthday USEPA! Since its birth in 1970, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has lived a long and healthy life… and if certain U.S. Presidential candidates and other EPA detractors get their way, that life could be over. The USEPA is on life support, which means the future extinction of clean water, clean air, safe drinking water, globalclimate stability, toxic cleanups, and emergency flood response, is coming, unless YOU take action now.

Born 41 years ago this week to unlikely father Richard Nixon and honorary mother Rachel Carson, the USEPA has shepherded our nation’s recovery from a toxic nightmare where rivers catch on fire and children spent summers swimming in uncontrolled raw sewage and toxic waste.

Despite the promising visions of the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, we are now losing ground and are on the brink of an atrocious environmental Armageddon. Republican presidential candidates and others in Congress are actively working to dismantle environmental protections. In fact, climate change deniers Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich vow to abolish the USEPA once they step into the Oval Office.

The truth is that through the Superfund program alone, the USEPA has created thousands of jobs in just 31 years and saved thousands of families from poisoning by industrial waste pollution. The economic and social benefits of environmental protection cannot be denied- the American public must not tolerate abuses of public power for private gains!

Furthermore, the provision providing for a pool of funds to clean up toxic sites, instituted under the ‘Polluter Pays’ fees in 1980, sunsetted back in 1995, leaving American taxpayers to pick up the tab on orphaned toxic sites. Tell Congress and big industry to reinstitute the fees that make responsible parties pay for their damage!

Who will enforce the cleanups of these languishing sites if the USEPA is abolished? These noxious sites will continue to threaten your health and destroy your clean water and air unless an agency is there to enforce the regulations that were put in place for serious reasons.

The EPA is the only agency protecting millions of American from industrial poison and certain death. One in four Americans lives within four miles of a Superfund site. Scary thought? Communities near hazardous waste sites have shown an increased risk of cancer, birth defects, cardiovascular problems, and neurotoxic disorders.

Help EPA survive their 42nd birthday! Tell your elected officials that we need a strong and well-funded EPA! Tell them our air, water, soil and quality of life depend on USEPA. Let them know that environmental protection is critical to national interest and defense and to put families health before polluters profits! Don’t let any environmental regulations or agencies be abolished!

Letter to

Presidential CandidateNewt Gingrich

SenatorOrrin Hatch

SenatorMike Enzi

and 17 others

SenatorJohn Barrasso

RepresentativeMichele Bachmann

SenatorJames Inhofe

RepresentativeBob Goodlatte

SenatorMichael Bennet

SenatorRand Paul

SenatorJohn Thune

SenatorLindsey Graham

RepresentativeTom Reed

RepresentativeFrank Pallone

RepresentativeRush Holt

SenatorLisa Murkowski

SenatorSaxby Chambliss

SenatorMax Baucus

SenatorCory Booker

SenatorRobert Menendez

President of the United States

Raw sewage overflowing from outdated storm drain systems. Rivers catching on fire and chemical plants exploding. Cancer-causing chemicals rising into families basements from toxic groundwater. Tens of thousands of contaminated sites with human health exposure not under control. 250 million tons of waste trash generated and sent to landfills in one year. Children’s asthma rates exponentially increasing from breathing dirty smokestack air. Poisioned drinking water supplies for millions of people from poisonous chemical seeps. Should I keep going?

The Environmental Protection Agency is working diligently to resolve these problems and improve the quality of life for millions of taxpayers in our country. In addition to the toxic nightmares, EPA is brainstorming ideas for transitioning our country to a greener, cleaner energy economy, creating recycling options for everything from bottles and batteries to brick and bags, and educating children and their parents on numerous sustainable living methods.

Best of all, these initiatives are creating an economic stimulus for communities all around the country creating steady jobs and generating long-term income. In fact, EPA’s Superfund program created tens of thousands of jobs in just 41 years.

Instead of bashing the EPA and repeating talking points from corporate handlers, have you thought for a moment about just how vital environmental protection is for Americans?

As you may know, the EPA was established in 1970 by Republican president Richard Nixon, and prior to its establishment, the federal government was not structured to comprehensively regulate environmental pollutants from over 250 years of American’s industrialization. Over the last 41 years, EPA has made tremendous progress cleaning up our air, water and land from noxious pollutants and deadly chemicals. But, the fight for a safe environment is not over.

The United States still has over 1,300 Superfund Sites– the most contaminated toxic sites in the country – and over 40,000 other toxic sites regulated under EPA programs. Many of these sites have yet to be remediated, leaving untold American families exposed to these deadly hazards. New Jersey alone yields over 25,000 State-led contaminated site remediations that don’t fall under this federal program but more than qualify for a Superfund status.

Please stand up for the children who continue to suffer from asthma attacks, for the urban communities dying from abnormally high cancer rates, for all America’s families who deserve to live in a country with clean air and fresh drinking water. Show your constituents that you’re taking action to fight for their health and well-being instead of protecting multinational polluters who only care about short-term profit.

As our natural resources become scarce, clean air, water and the land we live on is more valuable that industry profits. Thank you for standing up in Washington to demand increased funding and support for the EPA and setting a positive example around the World to save lives and improve the quality of life for everyone.